Spinnaker Tower - Portsmouth (England)

The Spinnaker Tower 08/09/2012 11h16
Meeting up with the Ring family was more than a Flickr meet-up. We are following eachother's photo streams for years already and Portsmouth in combination with meeting Jane, Tim, JJ, Matt and Sam was the main goal of our visit to the South coast of England.
Like every photo taken from and in the Spinnaker Tower the colored glass is doing strange things with the color (blue, green) which is hard to neutralize with PhotoShop. If somebody has another idea to fix this, welcome!

The Spinnaker Tower
Spinnaker Tower is a 170-metre landmark tower in Portsmouth, England. It is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbour, which was supported by a National Lottery grant. Its shape was chosen by Portsmouth residents from a selection. The tower, designed by local firm HGP Architects and the engineering consultants Scott Wilson and built by Mowlem, reflects Portsmouth's maritime history by its being modelled after a sail. After several years of delays and cost overruns, it was opened on 18 October 2005.
The tower, at a height of 170 m above sea level, is 2 1⁄2 times as high as Nelson's Column, making it the tallest accessible structure in the United Kingdom outside London. The tower is visible for miles around Portsmouth, changing the horizon of the area. It can be seen from the Isle of Wight, and even the Manhood Peninsula.
The tower represents sails billowing in the wind, a design accomplished using two large, white, sweeping steel arcs, which give the tower its spinnaker sail design. The steelwork was fabricated by Butterley Engineering. At the top is a triple observation deck, providing a 350° view of the city of Portsmouth, the Langstone and Portsmouth harbours, and a viewing distance of 37 kilometres (23 mi). The highest of the three observation platforms, the crow's nest, has a wire mesh roof, allowing visitors to be in the elements. Windows extend to above head height, so it is not possible to get a view unobstructed by glass. The glass floor is the largest in Europe. The tower has a design lifetime of 80 years.
The design is similar to the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, whose structure is a little less than twice as tall at 323 metres.
Planning began in 2000, and construction began 2001, and was completed in mid-2005, due to repeated delays and extra funding requests by the builders Mowlem. This was six years later than the planned opening date of 1999, chosen to coincide with Millennium celebrations. The tower, originally called Portsmouth Millennium Tower, was renamed Spinnaker Tower.
Once open, the tower attracted crowds in excess of expectations, despite only the internal lift working since opening, with over 600,000 people visiting the tower the first year. It is one of a number of observation towers around the world that have become popular, including Vancouver's Harbour Centre, Toronto's CN Tower, Blackpool's Tower and Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower.
Facts:
Construction Started: 2001
Completed: 2005
Heigth: Antenna Spire 170 meters, Roof 110 meters, Top Floor 105 meters
Elevators: 2
[ Source and much more information and backgrounds: Wikipedia - Spinnaker Tower ]

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Portsmouth (show map)

Taken on: September 8, 2012

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Europe

England

Great Britain

Britain

Hampshire

Portsmouth

English

British

Portsea Island

Pompey

September

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Spinnaker Tower

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Observation

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Stewart Leiwakabessy

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Matt

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Canon « less

Sets appears in: • South England 2012

Groups appears in: • Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth • Gunwharf Quays + Spinnaker Tower more » • Portsmouth U.K Photography Club • Nederlandse flickr fotografen • Spinnaker Tower (Official) • Portsmouth, UK • Effected Cameras (and other photographic items) « less

Camera: Canon EOS 60D, f/4.0, 1/320 sec, 17mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 60D
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/320)
Focal Length:	17mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Show full info

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